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Types of Out-of-Home Care

When children are removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care, they may be placed in a number of different types of settings. Current laws and policies require that children be placed in the least restrictive setting that can meet their needs and that relatives or kin be given priority in placement decisions. In addition to relatives' homes, other family settings include family foster care and treatment foster care.

When needed, children can be placed in residential or group care. In some communities, children entering out-of-home care are placed into emergency foster care settings which may be either a family or a group setting. Shared family care is an innovative approach being used in some communities in which birth parents and their children move into a supervised, supportive setting together.

APPLA—Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement and LTFC—Long-Term Foster Care describe the permanency status of children or youth in out-of-home care who are considered unlikely to be reunified with their families or achieve permanency through adoption or guardianship. These children may live in any one of the types of settings mentioned above.

• Family foster care
• Kinship care
• Treatment foster care
• Residential/group care
• Emergency care
• Shared family care
• APPLA and LTFC

Updated on December 7, 2007